Inkstuds: The Radio Show about Comics December 31, 2009
Posted by leskanturek in Art History, Artists, Comics, Graphic Novels, Visual Narrative, Visually Cool & Relevant.Tags: comic artist interviews, Inkstuds
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Despite the porn sounding name if you go to the Inkstuds site you will not find pictures of Jack Kirby giving you the full monty. What you will find is a radio show out of Vancouver hosted by Robin McConnell thoughtfully discussing the art, creators, the industry, inspiration, history and influence of comics.
McConnell’s show which has been “on the air” for the past 4 years offers an incredible range of interviewees including ; Ralph Steadman, Seth, Tony Millionaire, Joe Sacco, James Jean, Barron Storey, Rutu Modan, Scott McCloud, Art Spiegleman on Chris Ware, Rick Geary…the list goes on. I highly recommend tuning in to the show and hearing the intelligent discussion that takes place.
Ye Olde Terminator December 15, 2009
Posted by leskanturek in Folk Art, Printmaking, Steampunk, Visually Cool & Relevant.Tags: Folk Prints, Illustration Concepts, Re-interpretation as a old woodcut, Woodcuts
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I don’t have a lot of info on this, (okay none) it’s in Russian but I came across this on the web and it was too clever for me to pass up. Modern movies re-interpreted as old wood cuts. at : http://ziza.ru/2006/06/16/rastamanskie-narodnye-skazki.html
If anyone can shed some light on where this is from or who did it please let me know.
Follow up:
Bibliodyssey which is a wonderful, wonderful site displaying “eclectic and rare book illustrations derived from many digital repositories, accompanied by some background commentary”, has an older post for these prints (Sunday, June 18, 2006) They identify this style/genre of print as “Russian lubok” here is a copy of their link to an explanation by Alexander Boguslawski.
From http://tars.rollins.edu/Foreign_Lang/Russian/Lubok/lubintro.html (Copyright Alexander Boguslawski 1999)
“The lubki (sing. lubok), simple printed pictures colored by hand and often called broadsides, popular prints, folk prints…”
Film & Graphic Novels, Twin Sons of Different Mothers December 8, 2009
Posted by leskanturek in Books, Comics, Film, Story Boards, Visual Narrative.Tags: FIlm books, Graphic narrative and film, Graphic Novel book suggestions, storyboards, Visual narrative books, Will Eisner
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Since the advent of photography there has been a cross fertilization between the camera and the canvas. Early silent filmmakers were inspired by Gustave Dorés book illustrations (L’inferno 1911 by Francesco Bertolini). Film pioneer George Melies was influenced by illustrator Henri de Montaut’s work for Jules Verne’s From the Earth to the Moon, inspiration has see-sawed back and forth many times. Film noir influenced pulp images and early comics. Presently we’re seeing the trend of graphic novels being adapted to film. it makes perfect sense, The mediums are closely related and share a common visual vocabulary. Animation has long bridged (and blurred) the line between film and drawing.
Any one interested in visual story telling; Comic books, graphic novels, story boards should include in their education a critical eye on film and a reading of books that describe the visual narrative tools of film. How to compose shots, visual sequence and how it affects a narrative, point of view, this is all the common vocabulary of telling a story visually whether it be in print or film.
Below are a few film books that I think bear looking at for your narrative education. Especially for those of you interested in storyboards. It then becomes extremely important to understand and speak in the language of film photography.
Setting Up Your Shots: Great Camera Moves Every Filmmaker Should Know By Jeremy Vineyard
This is a basic book that describes different shots in film with an accompanying illustration and a suggestion of a film that employs an example of the shot. It’s written by a non-professional which has strengths and weaknesses.
I like the book because it is so basic and written for someone who knows nothing about film. It will get you thinking along film lines very quickly. I have read criticism of the book that the names of shots in some cases is inaccurate and some of the examples of where you can see the shot are general which can be frustrating.
(Above) Film Directing Shot by Shot: Visualizing from Concept to Screen: by Stephen Katz
(Above) Master Shots: 100 Advanced Camera Techniques to Get an Expensive Look on Your Low-Budget Movie by Christopher Kenworthy. Master Shots has an example of the shot in a film and different views of the shot using poser figures.
(Above) Storyboard Design Course: Principles, Practice, and Techniques by Giuseppe Cristiano
Space
The above is by no means all the books out there just a couple to start you thinking from the film side vs. the graphic novel/comic book side.
(Above) Comics and Sequential Art by Will Eisner is a fantastic book my a master story teller. One of the things that impresses me about this book is that Eisner addresses the concept of time in the narrative. How to depict a finite amount of time passing which i think is very much akin to film.
In the above panel Eisner has linked 2 simultaneous actions, the dripping faucet in the extreme foreground and the character entering. The slow drip is the reference point for time. Looking at only 3 panels you can tell it has taken the character a long time to enter. That’s an understanding of visual narrative. There is a wonderful Hamlet soliloquy drawn by Eisner in the book as well as other gems that really show why he is considered a master storyteller. The book I’d say is an absolute to pick up.
A covering Worn on the Face to Conceal One’s Identity November 10, 2009
Posted by leskanturek in 3-D work, Handmade, Surreal.Tags: mask collection, Masks
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A mask…got your attention…that’s what they do.
(above) a carved wooden Greenman or Wild Man mask from Germany(Austria?) . For “Fasnacht” a carnival held in Bavaria, Switzerland and Austria similar to Mardi-gras.
Space
A great gallery collection of masks amassed by someone over the last 20 years.
The Maskatorium,
Steamnocchio by Fabricio Moraes September 9, 2009
Posted by leskanturek in Pinocchio, Steampunk, Summer Reading Project.Tags: Fabricio Moraes, Gepetto, Pinocchio, Steam punk Pinocchio, Steampunk
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Fabricio Moraes’ wonderful entry to CGSociety: Society of Digital artists Steampunk challenge.
Steamnocchio. As Moraes has captioned it “ This is an adaptation of the Pinocchio story.
In this version, Geppetto is a mad and lonely old man. Since he has no friends at all, he decided to make one. With no magic or abracadabra stuff, he makes his creation alive with the power of steam”.

If you go to the cgsociety challenge page you’ll see a great breakdown of the illustration. Fabricio’s initial sketch, the steps in modeling the figures digitally, earlier version of the color and details. I’d highly reccomend it as well as seeing the other great entries on the site.
Pinocchio Cover Gallery July 29, 2009
Posted by leskanturek in Books, Pinocchio, Puppets, Summer Reading Project.1 comment so far
A sampling of Pinocchio books:
1. Lane Smith (2003) 2. Mauro Evangelista (2006) 3. Gus Grimly(2009) 4. Sara Fanelli (book with slipcase 2003) 5. J.J. Menet (France 1945) 6. Lois Lenski (1940)

7. Tony Sarg (1940) 8. Sergio Rizzato (1963) 9. Jim Dine (2006) 10. Art Seiden (1954) 11. Benito Jacovitti (Italy 2001) 12. Winshluss (2009)

13. Matthias Griebler (German 2007) 14. Lorenzo Mattotti (Italy 1991) 15. TK (Japan 1997)

16., 17. James Jean (2008)
18. J. Pavlin – G. Seda, (Czech, English version 1974)



















